Cowboy Christmas Recap on The Breakdown Podcast with Taylor Munsell, TiAda Gray and Josie Connor

Feel like you’re in the truck with some of the biggest breakaway winners over 2024 Cowboy Christmas as Breakdown host Lillian Kent visits with Reno Rodeo Champion Taylor Munsell, Greeley Stampede Champion TiAda Gray and overall high money earner Josie Conner, who dominated the week with $15,815 won.

2024 Cowboy Christmas recap The Breakdown Podcast

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About the Breakdown Podcast Cowboy Christmas guests:

Taylor Munsell

Taylor Munsell topped the Reno Rodeo in commanding fashion, roping three head in 8.0 seconds, rounding up a total of $13,582 and sliding neatly into No. 2 in the WPRA World Standings with approximately $76,250 won.

For Munsell, the win was a long time coming.

“I’ve made Reno Rodeo short round every year—so four years now—and I always felt like it was a rodeo I should be able to excel at, and I’d never got it won,” Munsell, 27, said. “So, I decided that this year was going to be my year.”

Munsell roped her calves in 2.4, 2.4 and 3.2 seconds for the win, carving herself a sizeable chunk of Reno’s $70,000 in added money for the breakaway ropers.

TiAda Gray

TiAda Gray sunk a big win at the Greeley Stampede—worth a total of $7,579—to start her Cowboy Christmas off with some momentum. The New Mexico cowgirl won the iconic Windy Ryon Memorial Breakaway a little more than a month ago, and used her gritty attitude seen at the roping out on the ProRodeo road.

Gray collected another $1,477 a little closer to home at the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Arizona, and her total of more than $9K from the week pushed her from No. 17 in the WPRA World Standings on July 2 to No. 14 on July 8.

Josie Conner

The question isn’t where Josie Conner won over Cowboy Christmas, it’s more like where didn’t she win. Conner’s paydays included:

• No. 1 at Killdeer, $6,322
• No. 2 at St. Paul, $4,745
• No. 2 (split) at Belle Fourche, $2,612
• No. 5 (split) at Cody, $1,578
• No. 12 (split) at Oakley, $558

With Conner’s $15,815 in the bank, she narrowly beat out Shelby Boisjoli-Meged’s 2023 Cowboy Christmas earnings of $15,341. Meged went on to shatter the season earnings record in 2023, and while it’s still too early to tell what Conner is capable of, The Breakaway Roping Journal team is going to be watching expectantly (and excitedly) for the remainder of the summer.